Part I: Duchenne muscular dystrophy early detection and monitoring with quantitative ultrasound techniques. Scanning and processing of mice gastrocnemius muscle affected with duchenne muscular dystrophy. Part II: New measuring techniques for fatty-liver disease: quantification of liver-fat content using quantitative ultrasound. Liver sacans data processing from patients from the university of california at San Diego.

Autor/a:

Herrera Gener, Julio

Otros autores:

Goueygou, Marc

Abstract:

This report aims to explain the reader the research
-
related activities conducted at the
Bioacoustics Research Laboratory, during a Research Internship Summer 2013.
The activities conducted at this inter
nship can be classified in three different parts:
First, training on the usage of laborat
ory ́s facilities and internally
developed software, as well
as study of essential papers for basic understanding of QUS (Quantitative Ultrasound) and
Backscattering T
heory. This stage lasted for a month approximately and was conducted
throughout May 2013. This part of the internship is of no relevant scientific interest, and
therefore has been omitted from the body of this report. However, training techniques have
been
found to be worth explaining, as they are relevant from a teaching point of view.
Therefore an explanation of the training work conducted throughout May 2013 may be found
in the annexes of this report.
Second, implication in a study conducted throughout
different departments of the University of
Illinois, including the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Bioacoustics
Research Laboratory. The broader goals of this study were to:
1)
Establish
a quantitative ultrasound (QUS, the quantifi
cation of tissue microstructure)
imaging capability that targets a
medically signifi
cant skeletal muscle disease
2)
Apply
QUS to noninvasively monitor disease progression and regenerative changes
following cell
-
based therapy for
Duchenne muscular dystrophy (
DMD)
.
The implication of
this study consisted in sample scanning and processing using Quantitative Ultrasound
techniques.
The involvement in this study was the main study conducted throughout the internship, and
lasted for approximately two months (June a
nd July 2013). The explanation of the project, the
level of implication, and presentation of the results achieved is therefore the largest portion of
this report. Everything related to this study
has
be
en
presented in the report under the section
“Part I”.
Third, a minor implication in yet another different project.
This joint project was conducted by
the University of Illinois and the University of San Diego in California. The goal of this project is
to study the viability of quantifying the liver
-
fat content using QUS techniques, in the aim of
substituting other c
ostly detection techniques used currently, such as Magnetic Resonance,
with the non
-
invasive and non
-
expensive technology that is Quantitative Ultrasound. The
involvement in this study was mainly processing the already collected data from actual
patients,
using internal software developed by the Bioacoustics Research Laboratory. The
duration of the implication in this study was less than a month, and was conducted throughout the first weeks of the month of August 2013. The explanation of the project, the le
vel of
implication, and the explanation of the results will be presented in this report under the section
“Part II”.
Therefore, this report will be divided between “Part I” and “Part II”, the length of each one of
the parts being approximately the amount o
f work and time spent in them during the
internship.